


Forever

by BandanaBlue



Category: Alias Smith and Jones
Genre: Character Death, Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 12:44:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7684969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BandanaBlue/pseuds/BandanaBlue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An uncertain future awaits.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forever

**Author's Note:**

> In Season 2, from episode 13 onwards, Heyes is seen to be wearing a silver ring. Its sudden appearance is never acknowledged on screen, or explained.

A cool breeze plays with the yellowing leaves overhead and with a slight shiver I turn, looking away from the silver ring on the third finger of my left hand to see a familiar figure walking toward me through the trees, his slow, lazy long-legged stride covering the ground to the riverbank with ease. 

The highly polished Colt revolver catches the sunlight from the gun belt which is slung real low on his hip. I don't need to see him from the back to picture his ass - that perfect ass. 

As he gets closer I revel in the sight of the unruly curls escaping from under his hat, framing his face with gold. His eyes, as blue as a summer sky, look at me with an intensity that makes my heart race. He smiles as he flicks his right hand slightly to loosen his glove before pulling it off and tucking it into his gun belt. His hand extends toward me. It's then that the image fades and I draw in a ragged breath. 

Right now, I swear I would give anything to touch that hand again. 

I should have known that cowpoke in the Brokenvale saloon was trouble. Should have been more watchful too after Jed had outdrawn him. I guess, once he'd seen how fast the Kid was he figured the only way he could win would be to lay in wait for him down that alley. Anyways, it was all over real quick. 

I saw the muzzle flash out of the corner of my eye, heard the shot, then Jed just crumpled alongside me crimson spreading across his blue shirt. Horrified, I dropped to the ground kneeling in the blood which was already pooling at my feet. There was nothing I could do but clasp his hand real tight, his eyes looking deep into mine saying all the things we both knew words never could. He breathed my name and then he was gone.

They caught the cowpoke. Brought him back to town and locked him up. Kept him outta my reach. They must have guessed there wouldn't have been much left of him if I'd got there first.

Devil's Hole was the only place I could think of to bury Jed. 

It's hard to believe that little more than an hour ago I stood behind the leader's cabin alongside a fresh mound of earth, white-knuckled hands gripping the brim of my hat, enveloped in my own private hell having just buried my cousin, partner, friend, lover.

I have to say, I'm kinda proud of how the boys handled it. They all stood, heads bowed for one of their own. Wheat and Kyle either side of me, the others at a respectable distance, while Preacher said the right words to a god I stopped believing in a long time ago. 

Lobo and Hank slowly shovelled the dirt on top of the plain wooden box. The dull thud as it hit the wood still rings in my ears and it cuts me up inside.

I don't know how long I stood there after the last shovel of earth had covered him - unable to move my feet and my throat too tight to speak. Slowly I came to my senses and, pushing my hat down low over my eyes, I turned and headed for the river. None of the boys asked where I was going. They just knew.

I had thought all my crying was done but I was mistaken. Now, as I sit wrung out and alone at Jed's fishing spot, my eyes are drawn back to the ring. I've worn it for so long now it feels like it's part of me - just like Jed will always be. I can remember the day he gave it to me, clear as crystal.

We were in Big Butte getting over the scare that bounty hunter, Joe Sims, had given us. Despite having saved him from being lynched I was still sure that he would have turned us both in for the twenty thousand dollars reward, but the Kid was not convinced. He'd got to like Joe some and it wasn't easy for him to think a person he liked could do anything bad to him. He might have been an outlaw once but his heart was honest. I loved him for that. 

Anyways, I have to admit I had been pretty shook up over the whole thing; us getting caught - twice - and then Joe being shot in the back by that rancher. Jed knew I was downhearted over the amnesty too so, one evening, he came back to our room with this silver ring in his pocket. He simply placed it on my finger and, turning my hand over, gently kissed my palm before claiming my lips with a deep kiss. 

I don't know where he got the money from to buy it. Hell, we only had two dollars and sixteen cents between us but, I have a suspicion that he sold his pocket watch. He'd even had it engraved with just one word - Forever. Jed said he wanted to give me something to remind me that we belonged together. I told him I didn't need a ring - I already knew that - but he wanted me to have it and now, more than ever, I am grateful that he did. I will regret 'til my dying day that I never got him one too. 

Each night for months after that, before I went to sleep, I would study it on my finger trying to see the word as we lay wrapped in each other's arms in a hotel bed or on our bedrolls under the stars, a fine film of sweat glistening on our satiated bodies. 

Nobody has ever asked me why I started wearing the ring. We didn't tell anyone we were lovers - we couldn't - but I have a feeling there might have been a handful of people, Clementine for one and maybe Soapy, who had guessed how things were between us.

I pull in a deep breath 'cause now it's suddenly hit me that there are people I need to tell; Lom, Clem, Soapy, Silky, maybe even Harry Briscoe. Telling Clem will be pure torture, I guess because she loved him almost as much as I did. Still do. I can't send a telegraph. I know it's something that has to be done face to face but it may have to wait a while; I haven't the strength to cope with her grief as well as my own. 

Lom will be Lom. He'll probably ask what I want to do about the amnesty and, right now, I'm sure I don't know what to do about that. Do I really care if the Governor grants it now that the Kid is gone? Should I still keep to the path we chose to ride together? 

Maybe it would be easier to go back to outlawin' except I would have to do it with an empty space beside me. Come to think of it, whatever I do, that empty space is always gonna be there. I guess I could see if Wheat will have me back in the gang. Oh, not as leader - I wouldn't want that, those days are gone - but at least if I'm here at Devil's Hole I will be near Jed.

Guess it's too soon to say.

I may not know where my future lies, or if I even want a future without Jed, but there is one thing I do know for sure. Tomorrow, I'm gonna ride back to Brokenvale and I'm gonna watch that murdering sonofabitch dance at the end of a rope because, right now.... well, it feels like it might be the last thing that ever makes me smile.


End file.
